


Fortitude

by Ghostinthehouse



Series: Sheathed Claws [2]
Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis, Dark Is Rising Sequence - Susan Cooper
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostinthehouse/pseuds/Ghostinthehouse
Summary: Queens, Magicians, and old memories, meet for tea





	Fortitude

He reminds her of that other Lion, from his name and mane of hair (white here, not gold) to the depths of power she senses dimly within him. It's an old pain, buried deep, like a splinter in her heart. A lesson learned young and only half forgotten: sometimes a sacrifice is needed. Sometimes people you love die and you can't stop it happening. All you can do is be there for the aftermath.

She reminds him most of Guinevere, if anyone. She moves like a queen - or like an Old One - sure of her power, but not using it. She isn't of the Light. He'd know that. Nor is she of the Dark. That he can be sure about. Still, he can sense a strength within her, a power from a source he doesn't know, and that always sets him a little on edge. It's rare he meets something new, after all this time.

He finds that she knows what it is like to go back to a place centuries later and find it changed out of recognition and everyone you knew - gone. He doesn't ask her for the details of her place, and she has enough gentleness left not to ask him about his place.

She learns from him how to go on past the years of loss, and to find a new balance with the few that know or understand. There's a coldness there, at the heart of it, but she has always known that a cat's paw is only gentle until it's time to unsheathe the hidden claws.

They take tea together every once in a while, and the world sees only a pair of professors talking.


End file.
